Trade and international policy analysis

Trade and international policy analysis

Brexit

On these pages you find information about international aspects of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, statistics and analyses of agricultural trade as well as analyses of agricultural policy developments in countries outside the EU.

Detailed analysis on how the EU agri-food trade flows have changed in the past year with regard to partners and traded products is provided in annual publications, which also summarize the agri-food trade performance of the world key players.

The latest report highlights that the EU further expanded agricultural trade in 2014, despite the Russian import embargo.

Annual export values increased by 1.6% and annual import values grew by 2.1%, affirming the EU's new status as the most important actor on agricultural world markets simultaneously as supplier and buyer.

The analysis reveals that the EU offers a diverse array of competitive products at all levels of the agricultural value chain. The EU's import basket in turn is dominated by commodities and other primary products.

2014 figures for the EU confirm the growing importance and strengthened links with the US in agri-food trade.

The largest absolute annual export value increases were registered for the product categories "infant food", "milk powders and whey" and "wheat", all of which already belonged to the European export flag ships in previous years.

The international dimension of agricultural policy is part and parcel of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). This is set out in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (Articles 39 and 40), that specifically targets the stabilizing of imports and exports as a means to address market volatility, and deliver on the objectives of the CAP.

Various studies and analytical papers on agricultural as well as trade policies affecting agriculture are available here: